The cai luong family suddenly has a comedian

When talking about the Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City stage, we cannot forget the 5 great families who have contributed their merits and many valuable works to the treasure trove of hát bội, cải lương and spoken drama. These families have passed down their profession to their descendants for several generations and who is currently keeping the family fire burning?

The first artist of the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga family (later changed to Thanh Nga troupe) was Mr. Nam Nghia, a cai luong actor who was not only famous for his acting but also for his contribution in transforming the Da co hoai lang song from beat 4 by musician Cao Van Lau into beat 8, which was circulated throughout the six provinces of the South, and was the basis for other artists to later develop into beats 16, 32, 64 - the embodiment of the vong co song until now.

Meritorious Artist Bao Quoc and People's Artist Le Thuy in the play Long River

PHOTO: HK

Beside him was Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tho, his wife with excellent management skills, who became the manager Tho who shouldered Thanh Nga troupe until her last breath.

The next generation had children who became famous actors and actresses, such as Meritorious Artist Thanh Nga and Meritorious Artist Bao Quoc. We must also mention the son who died early, Huu Thinh, and his wife, Thanh Le, who also followed the singing career (these two are the parents of Meritorious Artist Huu Chau). This is the brilliant generation of the Thanh Nga family that contributed to the art of reformed opera, because Meritorious Artist Thanh Nga was a talented and beautiful actress, leaving the most special impression in the hearts of audiences and colleagues.

Thanh Nga was famous before 1975, winning the Thanh Tam Award at the age of 16 (1958, also the first time the award was held). She also participated in many movies, in 1974 won the title of Most Popular Actress, Best Actress in a Tragedy at the 20th Asian Film Festival. Her wonderful roles on the reformed stage such as Huong (Half a Life of Perfume) , Duong Thai Chan (An Loc Son Love Story) , Giang Huong (The Late Night Stage) , Trung Trac (The Drum of Me Linh) , Quynh Nga (By the Silk Weaving Bridge) , Van (Darkness and Light) , Duong Van Nga (Queen Mother Duong Van Nga) ... made a deep impression on the audience. Thanh Nga's passing when she was at her most mature in life and career, 36 years old, was a great loss for the stage.

THE RELUCTANT COMEDIAN

Thanh Nga's family has Meritorious Artist Bao Quoc, who won the Thanh Tam award in 1968 and is Thanh Nga's younger brother. Bao Quoc also entered the profession very early, was taught and trained carefully by his father, and also dreamed of a leading role in the theater troupe. But life pushed him into the comedy field without him knowing. At first, he only played the role of Chuong Hau in the play Tieng Trong Me Linh to fill the staff, but unexpectedly, he was so charming that the directors "kidnapped" him and assigned him a series of comedy roles in other plays. He performed very well in long plays, and was equally spectacular on the comedy stage, in concerts, and in movies. The roles of Chuong Hau (Tieng Trong Me Linh) , Tat Dao (Ben Cau Det Lua) , Y Xi Ke (Bong Toi va Anh Toi) , Bui Kiem (Kieu Nguyet Nga) , Hai Xien (Ban Altar of a Actress) ... are roles that are difficult for anyone to surpass. And for decades, the press and audiences respectfully called him "comedian".

Gia Bao (right) and Hong Trang in the play Living Demons

PHOTO: HK

Now, Bao Quoc is over 70 years old, settled in the US for more than ten years, but still regularly participates in performances in the US and Vietnam. He keeps the family fire burning steadfastly and diversely in the fields of reformed opera, drama and comedy. His motto is still: "Every day after a performance, when I get home, I still check myself to see if I have said or acted anything inappropriate, causing misunderstandings in the audience, then I must correct it immediately for the next performance. Don't harm the art because of chasing laughter. The singing profession is very sacred, whatever blessings our ancestors give us, we must try to keep carefully."

Continuing the career of being a manager

It is also interesting that Mrs. Tho's career as a producer has a successor. That is Huu Loc (Huu Chau's younger brother) of the third generation, and Gia Bao (Bao Quoc's grandson) of the fourth generation.

Huu Loc used to be a very successful manager of the Nu Cuoi Moi theater troupe, but unfortunately he died early in an accident. Gia Bao participated in plays when he was in high school, but when he grew up, he "bravely" became a show producer, inheriting his great-grandmother's bloodline. Gia Bao specializes in very large cai luong shows, staged in old plays, classic plays such as Tieng Trong Me Linh, Ben Cau Det Lua, Lan va Diep, Doi Co Luu, Nua Doi Huong Phan ... He confided: "I see that the generation of artists of my grandfather's generation no longer has much health, so I took the opportunity to organize the program to preserve those precious images." There are artists like Thanh Sang and Thanh Kim Hue who passed away after performing those masterpieces, making the audience appreciate even more the plays that were re-staged and had time to preserve memories with the artists.

Sometimes Gia Bao also invests in plays to participate in theater festivals. He is considered "lucky" in the show business world, not to mention he is also a "ticket seller" of some comedy stages. Because Gia Bao has a pretty popular acting style, inheriting a bit from his grandfather Bao Quoc, at the same time also has his own creativity. (to be continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gia-toc-cai-luong-bat-ngo-xuat-hien-danh-hai-185250718223639396.htm